I sat down on a bench near the arena fields. The stadiums were practically overflowing, but this one spot I had found was not as crowded. And there was also the fact that several players recognized me and decided to back off rather than fawn on me. That was fine. I wouldn't have barked if they had chosen otherwise, but right now I kind of preferred at least a pseudo-solitude. Ariana... my heart sank as I watched the first wave of contestants being assembled for their first match. There were ten matches going on at once, three more than in the prelims. Must be trying to keep it rolling more than we guessed, I mused. Then I started. One of the battles involved Myanihia.

“Dude! It's the Black Shadow!” someone remarked.

“Ooh, Myanihia; time to ready my pockets for that bet!”

“Like really; they're ranked pretty high. Everyone's sure that person will make it to at least the last semi-final.”

“What? They rooting for Mad Dog or something? That guy's brawny but--”

“Dude. Mad Dog's taken down so many assassins who thought they could beat him. Even Rayna won't go after him in a duel or a PvP area.”

“Duuude.”

Hmm...? that good, huh? I wondered.

“What about Lana?” a female voice wondered.

“Lana? Ehh...” one of the earlier voices hesitated. “She's determined and she's got the ingenuity, at least. Pitting her against Mad Dog or Myanihia, though...”

“Dude. Screw the rankings and the polls. I'mma bet on her all the way.”

“Hsst! She's right there!” someone hissed.

“Whoa!! You're right!!” the other hoarsely whispered back.

“Ooohh...!! Trouble in paradise.” the female player remarked.

“Huh? Oh! Right...” someone else said.

The signal to start the match went off, and I refocused my attention to Myanihia's match. Their opponent was a dual-wielding axe user in leather armor. She was light enough on her feet, and she had the speed to keep up with him, but eventually that mysterious shadow seemed to quietly say her time playing with them was up. Myanihia entered Shadow World, and then did a one-shot on the girl. I could only assume it was the trick they had told me about.

“Woww...” someone remarked.

“Oh, look, Wingers is making a comeback!” another person remarked, focused on another match.

“Cool! Go, man, go!!”

Hmm... anyone else in this round to watch? Oh, there's Wildeye, I noticed as I looked around myself. The Mountain Tigers' guild leader stood defiantly against a mage who was giving him a rough time. I winced as I saw him get struck by a couple of fireballs, barely dodging out of the last one's burst-radius in time.

“Come on, Wild!” I cried out, and a chorus of cheers and howls followed up my words. I wasn't sure if it was coincidence or not; there were eight other matches going on, after all.

“Arrgh! Wingers went down. Poor dude never could figure out how to deal with an archer...”

“It's amazing he didn't fight one in the prelims,” a second person commented.

“Right?”

As this exchange played out on the periphery of my hearing, Wildeye then closed the distance on his own opponent, rushing them and then using a crossing swipe with both hands to interrupt their induction and rattle them. They panicked for a brief moment. That was all Wildeye needed. He used two of the more deadly claw-skills in rapid succession, finishing off his opponent before they could so much as squawk. A raucous cheer went up.

“Phew...” I quietly sighed.

“Nice fight, for a cat.” a familiar voice on my right said. It was Lysandra. The werewolf girl was leaning against the barrier like I was, looking out on the fights with a look of disinterest--but I knew better now. She was definitely interested in the winners.

“Once he gets his bearings, there isn't much that can rattle him.” I said.

“Kinda figured. He seems like he's been in actual fights.” she said, and I looked at her with a puzzled expression. “You know... military or something.” Lysandra said in a quieter voice.

“Y-you think so?” I wondered, watching as the victorious Wildeye was teleported out of the arena.

“Wouldn't surprise me, anyway.”

“The last small war was about three years ago... he seems like a college guy most of the time, but then...” I mused aloud, recalling how swift and decisive Wildeye had been in the Garth-Queens War, the first major VR conflict in Panarena.

“Seems like you've seen something to affirm it.” my companion shrugged. A device in her pocket then started making a tinkling noise with a little glow effect. “Huh. Match one for me. See you, lover-girl.” she winked, vanishing in a teleport for her own match.

D-did all the contestants get one of those? I suddenly checked my inventory, finding a new item I hadn't noticed before.

Arena Crystal: will alert you two minutes prior to your match and then teleport you to a waiting area.

“Hmm...? That's convenient.” I remarked. Then I wondered how far down the line Ari and I had been placed in today's match-ups.

A couple moments later, Lysandra reappeared in the arena with her first victi--err, opponent. Sure enough, he looked nervous, and she looked as composed as ever. The guy's shield and sword were shaking with his limbs.

“Hahh... he's a goner.” I sighed as I nevertheless continued to watch the fight.

“Right?” another girl said next to me.

“She won't even change to werewolf for this one, I bet. She'll just psych him out.” I continued idly.

“Hmm? You can guess that much?” the other remarked.

“Well it's obvious, isn't it?” I returned, looking over at them, and then words caught in my throat. A-A-Angelfire...!! my brain gasped internally.

“Hey, Lana!” she grinned upon seeing my reaction.

“Ahh--uhh--hi,” I replied. “Y-you're waiting too, huh?”

“Yep... apparently I'm fighting some dork of a tank who boasts he's totally immune to fire. I'm gonna break his poor little brain in a few moments with my uber-maxed fire-spells' bonus for being a pure flame mage: all fire spells can circumvent fire immunities for twenty seconds of every minute.” she returned with a fierce grin.

“H-hehh...?” I returned with awe, then suddenly remembered Lysandra's fight. Sure enough she was toying with the hapless warrior, who eventually fell prey to her graceful sword forms.

“Just like you said, she didn't even turn wolf,” Angelfire remarked in an impressed tone.

“Mmhm,” I nodded back. “Twenty seconds of every minute sounds good, but I bet it'll be a rough wait -- especially if he's got reflect.”

“With an immunity like his? I doubt it, unless one of his items is enchanted for it.” she shrugged.

“Hmm, that's true.”

“But you're also right; it's gonna be a pain keeping him at bay long enough to survive the match,” she smiled wryly. “Still... you got the unlucky card today, huh?”

“Don't remind me.” I returned with a sad smile, looking down towards the arena.

“Sorry.” she replied gently, putting a hand on my shoulder. Another twinkling sort of sound then came to our ears. “Ahh! Match time!” she declared with a renewed vigor.

“Good luck,” I said to her with a brighter smile. She beamed at me, holding up a V-sign as she was teleported away.

Hers was another match I wanted to see, but then something else caught my eye: General Mad Dog's first fight was now underway. His opponent was a Nordian in heavy armor, wielding a bardiche that reminded me of the one the Scion of Moloch had used in that one Halloween quest. The armored man let out a terrifying bellow, and then rushed towards the werewolf guild leader, who responded with a blood-freezing howl that only just fazed his opponent as he turned into his werewolf form.

Remember how I said he was imposing in his human form? Yeah. He was now at least three times as scary-looking, a grizzled and grey werewolf with gleaming white fangs and yellow eyes. He dropped to all fours to gallop towards his enemy, who came to a stop and pulled off a crazy dodge just as Mad Dog lunged at him, swiping with the bardiche to do some damage. Mad Dog's health bar went down slightly, and he did one of those tumble-turnarounds to pounce back upon the other player, knocking him to the ground. The guy tried to get up, but Mad Dog mauled him with a ferocity and speed that had us all transfixed until the hapless guy went up in pixels.

S-snap!

“Still want to fight him?” Lysandra asked me as she reappeared.

“I'm not backing down now,” I replied.

“Good.” she said coolly. Then Angelfire's match turned up.

Sure enough, the two of them gave each other a run for their money. When Angelfire's bonus skill took effect, she immediately launched some of her most deadly fire DoTs upon the guy, who blanched when he started taking damage and went into a short panic that he quickly overcame after the twenty seconds were up. But the damage she had inflicted on him was considerable.

“Six-thousand health points drained from some one supposedly immune to fire by a fire-mage, nice.” Lysandra remarked. To put it in context, Angelfire's opponent had thirty-five thousand health, and he was level ninety.

“Now she'll be on the defensive, and she'll probably prepare a more deadly DoT for her next strike.” I said.

“As long as she has some decent sword skills for when he catches up to her, I give her a fair shot. That two-hander he has is a chaos-damage blade; you can tell from the weird glow.” my companion told me.

“Hmm...?” I looked closely, noticing the glow that seemed to shimmer from color to color. “Nice... that's the first one I've seen so far.”

“No one's sure if it's the best worst damage or the worst best damage.”

“But depending on how lucky he is, or if he's got items that influence the RNG of the damage...” I mused aloud.

“Ohh, good point.” Lysandra said. “Still, I'd hate to be even a little dependent on the random-number generator.”

“Same.” I agreed, watching the two of them circle each other.

“Your buddy's up.” she then said, and I saw Tyman and his mage opponent materialize on a stage that had finally been cleared from its first ferocious battle.

“He'll have that guy down in no time flat.” I said. “Ah! There she goes with the DoTs again,” I then remarked. As I expected, Angelfire had prepared several more blistering fire-spells this time, launching them faster than she had even fired at me. Lysandra whistled in admiration.

“That health bar is going down twice as fast now... stopping at... ooh, she practically got him!” the older girl said with a rare amazement. The tank's health was down to eight-thousand now. With a grin, I turned to look at Tyman's fight. He had pounced immediately, but the other guy had surprised him by pulling out a couple of daggers to keep him at bay.

“Hahhh... he held his cards back to keep people like Ty overconfident,” I then realized.

“Niiice.” my companion nodded.

“Ehh, he'll pull through... somehow...” I shrugged, looking back at the other match. Angelfire had actually slashed him for a couple hundred damage while she fended him off, but he had slashed her too, and her health bar was green and falling. “Oh snap!!” I remarked.

“Hm? Oh, poison.” Lysandra observed.

“Ugghh... this could go either way... oop, her skill is back up, I guess,” I said as I watched her readying another series of fire-DoTs. She punctuated them with two flame-waves and a fireball, and he went all the way down -- to one out of thirty-five thousand health. Angelfire's was falling as well, now coming down from a thousand. She would be dead in less than a minute. But she rushed the tank fearlessly, swiping at him with all her strength, and he went up in pixels first.

“Ooh!! Close one!” Wandreada's voice came over the speakers.

“The Flame of the Aldholt prevails against the Warden of Dragonholt!” Ricklelopes said, and a loud cheering broke out, accompanied by several holdouts of booing. Angelfire was teleported out of the arena, and the stage set to a thirty-second cooldown until another match popped up on it.

Meanwhile, Tyman had wrested the daggers from his opponent's hands, and then used one of his ultimate claw skills to tear the guy's health down instantly. Another round of cheers broke out, and the victorious lieutenant of the Mountain Tigers raised his hands with a wild yell, a big smile on his face.

“Guess I'll see you tomorrow, pal.” I remarked softly.

“You and him are surprisingly close; same school?” Lysandra wondered.

“Same neighborhood, at least.” I replied. It wasn't a lie.

“Nice.” she replied. I then heard that twinkling sound again. This time it was my device. My face fell, and Lysandra saw it; her face showed a brief moment of sadness, and she put her hand on my shoulder. “Just... do your best.” she said, but before I could reply I was teleported away.

***

The waiting area was similar to the initial character-creation area. I looked at the timer; one minute and forty-five seconds left. A deep sigh escaped my lips. It wasn't the end of the world. It certainly wasn't the end of our relationship. But it really, really stung. Part of me was wondering if someone who hated us had fixed the matches this way. But that would be too far fetched.

“No... it's just... bad luck.” I said quietly.

I never even thought about what might happen if this sort of thing came up. I was all gung-ho about it, so excited to do this tournament with my friends that I never really thought about or even considered the fact I'd probably end up fighting one or more of them, I mused with regret. But then, I could almost hear Ariana talking to me.

“Don't regret things now. We both decided to go through with this, and we'll make it up to each other on the other side, or in this world, eventually. I did want to try myself against you someday, even if it wasn't like this. I love you. Now, get yourself ready... we have forty seconds left!”

I looked up in surprise. There was a glass wall dividing us, but I could see my precious partner across the way. She looked at me with that heart-stopping smile of hers, and we were then teleported to the arena for the final thirty-second wait.

I stood there silently, solemnly, looking Ariana in the eyes with all the love I possessed, and she did the same to me. My hands were on my daggers. Hers were on her staff. I could feel hundreds and thousands of eyes upon us as the crowds roared, cheering for other matches or psyching themselves up for ours.

“And now, one of the most awaited fights for today: these two rose to fame together as the Silvernight Twins, but now unlucky chance has matched them up for a fight you won't want to take your eyes off of!” Athena announced. The crowds cheered again. Twenty-five seconds left.

“Ari... Myanihia... told me a trick... a one-shot trick...” I told her, and her eyes widened slightly. I could see her expression falter. “But... I'm not gonna use it... except on them. And I'm not using Shadow World either.” I continued. She looked surprised, but her face settled into a smile, and she nodded back.

“Then... I won't use any insta-kills either.” she replied. I managed to grin back.

“Join me in the countdown for one of the highlight matches of the day!” Athena then called out.

Ten!

Nine!

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Eight!

Seven!

Six!

Five!

Four!!

Three!!

Two!!!

ONE!!!

A brief fanfare played, and the clock began counting down from thirty minutes. So far most of the fights had averaged about five, but you never knew in this game.

I saw several flame-bolts coming towards me. I dodged them with uncanny accuracy thanks to Angelfire's sparring session. Ariana was unfazed, and instead used area damage attacks instead. Our genius mage of spell mixing and matching began jogging around in a circle as I rushed her, countering my blows with her staff. With every blow I was silently apologizing, and I could feel her doing the same as she alternatively fended me off, enacted an area attack, or launched some sort of arcane missile towards me.

“N-neither of them have seriously affected the other's health-bars,” Forseti remarked as he observed our fight.

“That's what you bums get for putting a pair of lovers in a ring,” Lumpstein grumbled.

“It's not that; they know each other too well, so of course they're able to fend each other off like that.” Wandreada shrugged.

“Hrrmm...” Ricklelopes frowned.

R-ruuude!! I thought to myself as I heard them, and I could see Ari's face crinkling with irritation as well. We're both giving this all we have... the only handicap we have is that we're not gonna use our ultimate skills on each other. But if it's a fight you want... I grinned, and Ari returned the look. We abandoned actual game-skills and went after each other with basic skills; she fended me off or struck back with her staff while I struck at her or defended with my daggers, the both of us moving at a fairly incredible speed. The crowds started cheering wildly, and Lumpstein sat up in his chair to watch.

Both of our health bars began slowly but surely descending. Now that the two of us had actually gotten into it, we both had a grin on our faces, enjoying the match for the test of skills it really was. She swung at me with precision, I evaded the blow to my head only to jump up as she swung at my feet. We drove each other back and forth, using our real life skills of martial arts and wicked dance moves to battle the other around our little slice of the arena. Even a couple of the other contestants stopped fighting to watch us, only for their opponents to make short work of them.

After a while, the two of us once again resorted to game-skills, Ariana preempting me with a lava-floor spell that left her in the only safe zone, forcing me to use Shadow Speed to run around the wall while dodging her attacks until the lava went away. I then switched to my bow, using my own arsenal of magical arrow attacks to try and hit her, but she deflected pretty much all of them except one that slashed her cheek.

Gwhah!! I froze, suddenly back to my previous mentality. I-I-I hit m-m-my...!! But she looked up at me with a somber grin, nodding back as she fired a flame-bolt at me. My brain finally reacted to it when it was about a half-meter away, and I narrowly avoided the brunt of its damage. She continued firing at me with her arsenal of arcane missives, and I continued to dodge and evade her shots as best as I could.

Then I started firing back just as rapidly as she was, psyching her out a bit with every third or fourth arrow so that a couple others might reach her. I aimed for the shoulder, mostly, but a couple got her in the side. She got me good several times with a frost or poison spell, and I was nearly done for when she used Entangle, which kept me rooted for nearly ten seconds so she could use a couple of lightning spells on me. Both of us were visibly wincing as we inflicted damage on the other.

“They don't look happy about it any more than they did at first, but at least they're playing along.” Lumpstein remarked over the speakers as our match went on.

“And don't forget the other Silvernight Queen, Anhe, fighting against that werefox on the other side.” Wandreada said. Ari and I both turned to look for a brief moment.

“Tch, she's got him,” I said with a bemused grin.

“R-right?” Ariana said with a similar expression on her face. We looked back to one another, and resumed our fight once more.

“Mm, mm, there's confidence and skill. Looking away to check on their comrade while fighting a deadly battle themselves,” Forseti said with admiration.

“Oh to be young again.” Athena sighed.

Ariana then thumped her staff to activate a ground-quake spell, knocking me back a few paces. Both of our health bars were below the fifty-percent mark. She looked into my eyes with a smile. I smiled back, rushing towards her like a streak of lightning. She held up her staff, its top brimming with actual lightning. I narrowly evaded her skill at point blank range, tumbling down so that I was able to attack with two quick stabs.

I wonder if she hates herself as much as I hate myself right now... or if I'm overthinking it... I hope I am.

Whatever the case, Ari followed up my attack with a double-wallop to the head with that staff, interrupting any and all thoughts that might have been going through it and sending me to totter around our stage like a drunk.

“Whahh-heyyy.. wha-hoyyy... owie-owie-owwww...!!” I mindlessly warbled or grumbled as I nearly fell to the ground. I don't know what she had expected that to do other than this, but she suddenly burst out laughing and cackling.

“Ouch!” Wandreada's voice said with shock. “That girl just whapped her a good one.”

“Hrrmmm... but now she's overcome by a dangerous status ailment... the giggle fit.” Lumpstein remarked, and there were waves of laughter throughout the stadiums.

“If Lana recovers from that before Ariana calms down, she might be in trouble. Might,” Athena noted.

After about a minute or so I managed to steady myself, but my head was still throbbing. Blehh... I deserved every second of that, I bemusedly reminded myself. Once the world finally stopped spinning, I could see Ariana struggling to contain her laughter.

Ugh. What do I do? Finish her off? That seems rude... but any more of this and both of us might really get upset at or hurt by the other, emotionally speaking, I pondered with a puzzled grin as I watched her try to regain her composure. Ariana then forced herself into a cough, and a moment later she had taken a deep breath and calmed down.

“Hrrgh, that Lana, wasting a perfect opportunity to make a comeback.” Ricklelopes sighed.

“Meanwhile, Anhe has beaten her opponent, Egghead, and will move on to her second round in tomorrow's match!” Athena clapped.

“And there's Titanboyz finishing up with Lurkz Hoghead on the north stage,” Forseti said.

I shut out the announcers to refocus my attention to Ari. She looked as if she was doing the same. The Wood Elf held out her staff, and slowly turned it like a mill-wheel in a complete three-sixty. I knew that that meant. She had activated a deadly wind spell, similar to the lava floor but less easy to deal with. A howling wind began circling around her, picking up speed second by second. She began adding lightning to it a moment later, and soon she was enveloped in a nice little storm, complete with random hail-stones coming down to strike me at odd intervals. It wasn't one of her insta-kill spells, but it was deadly the longer you stayed in it -- and I had nowhere else to go. My health bar began falling further.

Suddenly she fixed me with a look. Her eyes gazed at me with complete peace, radiating her love towards me despite the spell. You can do it. I want you to do it. You're the only one allowed to beat me. I could hear her saying those words in my heart. I swallowed a lump in my throat. For the final time, I charged at her. Her smile widened. I don't know why I didn't lose my nerve. But then again, maybe I did. I trusted her, and she trusted me.

I'll find a way to make it as painless as possible, and you'd better promise me the same.

I don't know how painless I can make it, but I'll try.

You'll find a way.

There were so many conflicting emotions coursing through me right now. I didn't know if I was going to win or lose. Ariana's spell, while deadly, was her promise being kept. How could I keep my promise? I didn't have an arsenal of spells. Anything I did was bound to cause her pain. But then I remembered one skill I had picked up recently. It negated fifty-percent of the incoming damage I received and turned that damage back on my attacker.

“Shadow Retribution.” I said, coming to a halt before her. Ariana smiled at me, nodding as the damage came back to haunt her. I somehow forced myself not to break down.

End the spell. End it. Switch to another. Finish me off. Please -- Ari!!

I had received a lot of damage, but as a mage player, Ariana received more damage in general. Her health bar was now draining faster than mine. I could feel sobs silently heaving in my chest. Ari's eyes continued to gaze at me fondly.

“Sh-she won't stop using the spell!” Wandreada exclaimed with awe.

“Ehh? That's just common sense, isn't it? Reflect spells don't work if you're not attacking!” Lumpstein remarked grumpily.

“We did pit a pair of lovers together.” Forseti then said. “They seem to have lost most of their fighting spirit and are settling for a game of attrition.” he observed.

“Wood Elves are more vulnerable to storm damage than Gaels.” Athena said.

The two of us gazed at each other intently, unable to say on that stage what we wanted to say to each other. My health bar went down to three percent at the exact moment Ariana's went down to zero. I watched as her avatar went up in pixels, and then collapsed. I didn't hear anything that came next. All I was vaguely aware of was being teleported off the stage so the next fight could begin.

***

The next thing I was aware of was Lysandra sitting next to me. Apparently I had slumped down against the wall of some side passage in the arena. She patted my back as my eyes opened, and then softly sighed.

“Good job.” she whispered.

“I feel like a jerk.” I replied.

“Then go and tell her.” Lysandra said at once.

“I really should.” I said, slowly getting up.

“Still... ahh... you know, I'm... happy, that you're... that nervous, and remorseful, about hurting someone you love.” she said as she got up with me.

“Of course I am,” I returned, looking at her with a puzzled expression.

“I wish I had a sister or friend like you in my life. Maybe then I wouldn't be so miserable.” she said with a bitter smile.

“Th-then, just join us. We want you to join us, after all,” I said to her.

“Only if you win our bet.” she smirked. I let out a sigh.

“So, what are you? Tsundere, tsunshun, usodere, or kitikudere?” I asked her bluntly. She looked at me blankly for a second, and then burst out laughing for several moments.

“Ha-ha-hahh!! Oh, Lana,” she smiled, coming over to hug me when her laughter had ended, “Whatever I am, please always know that my intentions towards you are honest, and that I care about you quite a lot.” she said as I hugged her back. She then let go, and patted my head.

“You're a handful, you know that?” I said.

“I know. Go find Ariana. I bet they're all in the room again. Belle was fighting too; she's probably just gotten back from her own match.”

“Ahh--right.” I replied, and she began heading out. “Th-thanks... Sandra...” I stuttered out. She held out a thumbs-up as she continued walking.

She's a tsunshun. Or a kitikudere. Or something in between, I just know it. I thought to myself as I got a move on. Not that I was an expert on the “dere” thing. I had just spent half a night looking stuff up to see if I could guess her personality type. I was probably way off the mark. But whatever.

I found Ari and the others in our room, just as Lysandra had predicted. I went over to my partner first, who got up as I came in the room and dashed over to me, wrapping me up in a hug. Neither of us spoke for several long moments, and none of the others said anything either. The crystal display was showing matches, but everyone was focused on the two of us. Finally Anhe came over to wrap us in her arms, then Heali, then Maryn, and finally Lizzy and Belle, who had switched to human form to try on one of her new dresses.

“And they all lived happily ever after.” Belle said.

“And if not, we'll make them live happily ever after!” Lizzy grinned.

“Are you two okay now?” Anhe asked us softly.

“I think so.” I replied.

“I'm okay, Anhe,” Ari smiled at her, and the other girl smiled back.

“But anyway,” Lizzy said as the group hug ended and we returned to our seats, “Most of the matches went the way you'd guess. Skeletor and Deathscythe are in a match next, I think.”

“And the winner gets to fight Ironsides,” Healina nodded.

“Ooh...” the blonde girl said with interest. “And then that winner gets to choose their opponents.”

“Hmm,” I sighed as I watched the displays.

For whatever reason, the fact that I had told Ariana about Myanihia's one-shot trick came back into my mind as we settled in to watch the matches again. Then it occurred to me that, if they knew how to do such a thing, how had they failed to beat Maryn in the preliminaries? Sure, the difficulty in pulling off the attack had to be a factor, but that couldn't be everything, unless the mysterious assassin had just held back that card for a later use, deciding it wasn't worth showing it off just yet. But I felt compelled to ask anyway.

“Hey, Maryn,” I turned to the dark-haired girl.

“Hmm?” she looked over at me.

“When you were fighting Myanihia... did they use any sort of skill that you might think of as a one-shot attempt?” I said, and she paused, lightly frowning as she thought for a few moments.

“In both fights... there was a point where my health went all the way down, but it bounced right back up because of a passive skill I gained as a shield-user with high vitality: it restores at least sixty-percent health if you get below one-percent health.” she recalled for me.

“Hmm...?” I returned, pondering the words carefully.

“Thinking about the thing you told me about?” Ariana asked me, and I nodded back.

“If they told you, it must be an assassin-only kind of trick.” Belle noted.

“That's basically what they implied,” I replied, “And they also said they know how to counter it if I use it against them.”

“Ooh. That person's on top of their game. Make a nearly-unbeatable skill and create a way to counter it.” Lizzy nodded with admiration.

Myanihia. You'll definitely fight them. I know you will. Don't let anything they do surprise you, or shock you. Always be ready for any sort of trick, Jannie's words came back to me.

“I have to figure it out. Somehow, I have to figure it out.” I said to myself, and then stopped. It couldn't be that simple... could it?

“Oh look! Timidator's up!” Healina said, and with that the thought was banished from my mind.

“Girls, I shouldn't say I'm surprised, but I kind of am.” Winnie said as we all got together later that night. Most of the matches were over; they had gone through them faster than expected, and so they had a decently perfect schedule for the coming week.

“Ah-heh-heh,” Ari and I both sheepishly laughed as we sat down together.

“Well I expected it.” Jannie nodded with pride. “That ending was the only way I expected the two of you to go out, one way or the other.”

“So you knew there'd be a method but not the result.” I remarked curiously.

“Pretty much.” Jannie nodded back.

“I expected one of them to do the tragic lovebird thing and use a suicide technique.” Tabitha quipped, and we all half-jumped back in our chairs.

“T-Tabitha...!” Jannie smiled nervously.

“What the heck, girlfriend! Don't be so dang dark!” Winnie scolded her.

“D-do we give off tr-tragic lover vibes?” I nervously turned to Ariana, who shook her head vigorously in the negative.

“Heyas!” Lizzy grinned as she and Maryn joined us with two trays of drinks, along with the other girls. Oh right, we had gone back to that Dwarven restaurant from earlier. Healina and the rest turned up with about four supper platters, and we settled in for some good food and good company. Lysandra turned up as well, pulling up a chair to join us.

“How many more matches do you think they have left?” Winnie asked the werewolf girl.

“I left the arena five minutes ago after getting bored from watching a bunch of people who could've won turn chicken in the middle of their match and forfeit.” she sighed in an unamused tone.

“Say whaat?” the older woman frowned.

“Hmm... but I guess there's about twenty matches left at least, no more than thirty. We really surpassed their expectations for time, I guess, but all the better.” Lysandra said.

“The prelims were frantically 'round the clock. I guess everyone got used to the pace.” Healina remarked.

“True.” Jannie agreed. “Looking forward to you next match, Lana?” she asked me. I grinned back, nodding.

“It'll be nice to see your fighting spirit back.” Ariana gently teased.

“Of course it'll be back... today was a downer for me no matter how it turned out...” I softly grumbled, and she patted me on the head.

“I know.” she returned as I slowly shrank in my seat.

“Mrraaooww...” I said, and the others burst out laughing.

“What about you two?” Jannie asked Maryn and Anhe.

“Hmm... I have to go up against a knight-type player, so I should be fine!” Anhe said.

“Mine's an archer, but they don't have stealth so I'll be okay as well.” Maryn remarked.

“That's cause for extra concern,” I countered. “They've probably gone deep into the bow-skills.”

“Oh definitely. I saw him fight today.” Maryn said, then took a few moments to enjoy her stew as the rest of us munched on something as well. “His name is Ravenwing, and he's got a very practiced run-gun style with that recurve bow of his.”

“Ooh, nice.” I remarked.

“Recurve bow?” Ariana asked me.

“Ehh, I think the Mongolians used them a lot. The ends are curved back against the bow's natural curve to give it extra power for shooting.” I told her.

“Oh right, I remember that now,” she said.

“Ironically enough I think he's a Nomad,” Maryn softly grinned.

“Ha! Nice,” Jannie said. “Gonna be some shows tomorrow, then!” she smiled.

“Two-hundred and fifty-six players to be whittled down by half again,” Lizzy nodded. “And somewhere down the week, the time-limit for the matches might actually mean something.”

“Oh definitely.” Tabitha agreed. “Especially the last four rounds.”

“Ooh... now I can't wait!” Lizzy returned giddily.

“Isn't that the truth,” Winnie nodded.

“Just so long as my third match doesn't pit me against Maryn or Anhe,” I said with a faint grin.

“Pfft,” Mary chuckled. “Lana, you're cute... but not that cute. I'd have no trouble walloping you if I had to.” she said, and I saw Anhe nod her head in agreement. I shrunk down again, leaning towards Ariana for safety.

“Aw. She was being nice and you spooked her.” Jannie giggled. “Hey! Let's all go to the spa again after dinner!” she then suggested.

“I'm in!” Heali said at once.

“Ditto!” Winnie agreed.

“Same!” Ariana raised her hand.

***

Well, after a hearty dinner and another night at the baths, we all went our separate ways again to log out for the night. As usual, Ariana and I were the only two left in the room after a round of goodnights, and she gently slipped into my arms again, wrapping hers around me as well.

“Cake.” she then said.

“Huh?” I wondered.

“A chocolate raspberry cheesecake. You'll get one, right?” she said to me more insistently.

“O-ohh,” I suddenly recalled, smiling. “I'll come over tomorrow with one. Toby's Corner Sweets, right?”

“Yay! And yes. And,” she let go a bit to look me in the eyes, “I love you.”

“I know. I love you too.”

“See you tomorrow!” she said, and we kissed each other's cheeks before logging out for the night.